Ella Ekstrom wows judges at Open Jar Institute Auditions

2015 Feb 20

"Our kids have an immense amount of talent. They just connect with the audience."

Peg Plambeck, LFA's Musical Director of VOX and Vocal Instructor, sits back in her chair for a moment before continuing, "We're a Midwest boarding school, not an arts school. Yet we have students who can compete at high levels. That's not something to be taken lightly."

In early November, Peg and Timothy Plambeck, Director of Music, took Ella and nine other LFA students to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin to compete for a spot in The Open Jar Institute summer program in musical theatre. Students accepted into the one-week program receive the rare chance to fly to New York City and attend voice, acting, and dance classes run by Broadway professionals. Each night, the participants also watch new Broadway shows, take backstage tours, and meet the cast members.

Ella spent part of the day attending workshops on preparing for college musical auditions and different degrees in theatre and music. Afterwards, Ella performed 32 bars of a self-selected musical piece and danced in front of a panel of Broadway music directors and choreographers, including Jeff Whiting, founder of The Open Jar Institute.

Peg gives several more details about the audition. "The students all sang pieces that they had preparing for the fall VOX concert since late August. Jeff then had the kids try different vocal performances to see how flexible they were." When asked about Jeff's reaction to the students, Peg gives a slight smile before answering. "Jeff was taken aback by our students' voices. His overall impression was that they were spectacular, sang beautifully with great energy, and successfully told the story of their selected pieces. He was just amazed."

Five students were ultimately selected to join the program, which Peg exclaims is an exceptional occurrence. "We took the students to the auditions for a learning experience and we found that our students are at a level to compete with others who come from arts backgrounds and train in a bigger pond."

Kendall Logan, Sophia Platcow, and Agatha Walgreen will attend the first session of the summer program in July. Peg says that she is grateful that all ten students made the choice to audition and that she looks forward to seeing Ella's performances. "Ella has an authentic style of singing. Her voice has a type of purity when she sings. It’s incredible. She is always connected to her piece."